The brassiere or “bra” was developed in the early 19th century to replace the corset to cover and support a woman's breasts. As early as 1868, a breast pad was patented (U.S. Pat. No. 76,894) that had inflatable sacks covered with an outer knit covering that was non-elastic. The breast pad also had a flannel material that absorbed moisture arising from perspiration. Nevertheless, early bras were designed not only to support the breasts of a woman, but to also to conceal the breasts so as not to emphasize the bosom. According to current social standards, a bra is often worn by many women to emphasize the breasts and make her physical attributes highly visible. As such, the female breasts have achieved an unprecedented iconic status. Bras are manufactured in many different styles and shapes to accomplish the desires of the wearer, such as allow freedom of movement of the breasts, expose a portion of the breasts, lift the breasts to provide a fuller appearance, expose the nipple shape through the bra material, to address breast reduction, breast enhancement, etc. Accordingly, bras not only provide a support function, but also a fashion item. It is not unusual to see women wearing bras where portions thereof are intentionally exposed, such as the shoulder straps. Indeed, some bras, such as bustiers, are more fashionable than functional. Special bras are also fabricated to address concerns after a woman has had breast surgery so that a normal dress appearance is provided.
According to the norms of the Western culture, the appearance of a woman is important, not only to men, but also to other women. The shape of a woman's body is often what is noticed first, by both women and men. While many parts of a woman's body appeal to the opposite sex, it is a woman's breasts that are most often the object of appeal. Despite that a bra generally does nothing other than provide comfort and shape to the breasts, most women feel obligated to wear a bra to support and/or emphasize the shape or size of their breasts. Contrary to many beliefs, a bra does not prevent sagging, even after prolonged use, but rather supports the breast once the breast tissue loses its ability to support itself. The size of a woman's breasts is often as important as a woman's facial appearance. To that end, the field of breast augmentation by surgical and other means is a billion dollar business that grows every year. Rather than resort to surgery to increase the breast size, many bras, such as push-up bras, are constructed to enhance the cleavage and make the breast size appear larger than the actual size. Accordingly, many bras are made to displace the breast tissue upwardly so that it appears that the breast size is one or two cup sizes larger.
The conventional bra is constructed to often include a chest band that encircles the rib cage, and is fastened at each side by respective wings (or back wings) that extend to the back of the woman. The back ends of the wings are fastened together by hook and loop fasteners, or the like. Some bras are constructed to fasten at the front, between the cups. The cups of the bra are sewn to the frontal part of the chest band, and often a shoulder strap connects the top of each cup to the back portion of the respective wing. The frontal section of the bra that connects the cups together is known as the gore. There are many variations of the foregoing in designing bras. For example, some bras dispense with the shoulder straps, some do not have individual cups but rather a band of elastic material covering both breasts, i.e., tube bras, other bras have many different configurations of cup shapes and sizes to address the desires and needs of different users. In order to provide better support, some bras include underwire stiffeners under the cups.
Studies show that less than 45% of women wear bras that do not fit properly. A properly fitted bra must take into consideration the different chest dimensions, the larger dimensions around the body at the breast level, the size of the cups, and the shoulder strap lengths. Not only are there different size bras that attempt to allow the bras to be adjusted lo accommodate the various dimensions of the user, but each bra can be adjusted to a certain extent in an attempt to match the body structure of the woman. Generally, the cup size of a bra is not adjustable, and thus if a different cup size is desired, then a different bra must be purchased. It can be seen that even if the correct bra has been purchased, it must be properly adjusted in order to provide maximum comfort and support. However, many women do not understand how to properly adjust a bra. For example, if the bra cup does not snugly fit against the chest, many women do not know if the cup size is wrong, if the chest band is not tight enough, or if the shoulder straps are not properly adjusted. Moreover, once attempts have been made to properly adjust a bra, it is generally never readjusted thereafter when the dimensions have changed due to age, washing and drying of the bra which can make the elasticity change in the various parts of the bra. Much like the foregoing, the gore part of the bra should fit against the chest of the wearer, but if it doesn't, the wearer often does not know why, and thus can only make arbitrary adjustments hoping the results are better. Again, if the cup size is too small, the gore may be spaced from the wearer's chest and the only solution is to purchase a new bra. Experience by many women show that once a bra has been fitted correctly, either by choice or chance, the bra becomes comfortable and considered much like a favorite pair of worn jeans.
The difficulty in achieving a comfortable fitting bra is due in part to the fact that the breasts of most women are not symmetrical in shape, size or firmness. Indeed, the breasts of a woman can each be a different size, to the extent of a full cup size. The difference is often manifest by a woman who simply self-observes her breasts in a mirror. Different size breasts will move differently when the woman moves about. The breasts often move independently of each other in different rotational paths and rhythms. However, unless a bra is custom made, bras are generally not adapted to accommodate breasts that are different. Thus, a compromise in the fit and comfort of a bra is assumed. The outward look of a woman having different size breasts can be improved by using pads inserted into the cups of a bra. The pads can be cloth, foam or inflatable bladders, but the problem is that such pads can slip in the bra and be exposed, which is embarrassing to the woman. There are proposed bras that have inflatable bladders fixed in the bra cups, but there are often problems with achieving a desired inflation or deflation to assure a symmetrical outward appearance. In many inflatable bras and others where an insert is used to enhance the apparent size of a woman's breasts, the pads not only push in on the breasts, but also bulge the breast cup outwardly, leaving an unnatural appearance.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that a need exists for a bra that supports the wearer's breasts, but also has breast cups that are easily inflatable to achieve the desired balance in size between the breasts, and provide natural shaped breasts. Another need exists for the user to easily inflate the bladders of the breast cups to the desired breast appearance, with a valve that is integrated into the bra so as to appear as an ornament attached to the bra. Another need exists for an inflation valve attached to the bra that allows the user to easily select which bladder to individually inflate, or to inflate the bladders together, and then to disconnect the bladders from the inflation pump. Yet another need exists for a bra cup construction which allows an inflated bladder to push in on the breast tissue without bulging out the bra cup itself or otherwise distorting the shape of the bra cup. A further need exists for a mechanism to hold the breast cups together so that augmentation of the breasts by the inflated bladders creates the desired cleavage by simply self-observing the user's breasts in a mirror.